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The owner of the Auster is a tall man, now over 70yrs, he's starting to have difficulty climbing in to the Auster and plans to trade it for a more accessible plane, and he no longer needs the speed and endurance, now he's not flying great distances. It has a 180hp, but between us we can't remember if it was Continental or Lycoming. I know of another Auster with a Gypsy in the Childers area. You'll get a seat, maybe even a fly. Hungarian Vizsla - the Velcro Dog - loved them, but I married 9 years ago, the dogs all died and the Boss said "no animals" I pointed out we had possums in the roof & packing shed, assorted snakes, an 8' Carpet python, goannas, the neighbour's cattle, spiny ant eaters, pheasants, birds, bandicoots; what's wrong with one more? I'll have to swap him for a Viz. Sue

Hi Heath, There's an Auster for sale at Childers Qld. I could put you in touch with the owner, but he won't be back there till July. Caboolture is another place where there are a lot of historic aircraft. Could be worth a visit and chat to people who own and operate them. Downside with 'historic' is also 'expensive'. Sue

Try this link to an earlier discussion. Can dogs fly???

:welcome:Welcome Low Flyer - Now you'll have to tell us about your snake story ...... And the US/Canada ... in more detail. Sue

Welcome Everett. Bull - a user on this forum would be able to help you with those, having owned, maintained & flown in North Queensland Australia. If he hasn't responded here, I suggest giving him a PM - look him up on the Members list. You could also search for him and those planes on the forum - he did explain a bit. Hope we can help you out. Sue

Well, he's done it. Teen pilot becomes youngest person to fly solo around Australia Tasmanian teenager Oliver O'Halloran now holds a flying record. The 17-year-old has become the youngest person to fly solo and unassisted around Australia. He returned to Hobart today after a 20-day trip flying 15,000 kilometres circumnavigating the country in a single-engine aircraft, in a record attempt dubbed Solo17.

Unfortunately not, but we are getting our flying fix with the RANS and working on the other planes. There comes a point where you spend more time working on planes that doesn't leave you with much time for enjoying them. Presently working on the fabric covering on the Lightwing. Do you have a strip on the station?

Hi Kirby, We are from Springsure, although we spend most of our time elsewhere. Are you town or surrounds? My C152 is still based there. Sue

Hey Yenn, some old bloke has beaten you to it. Elderly pilot flies around Australia at 84 to get 'oldies' to dream big Broken Hill Aero Club stalwart Lawrie Hutton has taken off on the flight of his life. In his old Cessna 172, modified to carry more fuel, Mr Hutton will be flying solo to the four most extreme points on the Australian mainland, a journey of 13,000 kilometres. It will be the longest flight Mr Hutton has embarked upon in his 84 years on earth. Mr Hutton had to search his memory to recall other octogenarian pilots who have embarked on an adventure such as his. "I think the quick answer to that is probably no, not a lot," he said. "But I do come across a few from time to time. "There was an old retired guy, a 93-year-old, who showed up at Broome on his around-Australia flight in a Brumby light aircraft. Elderly pilot takes off on round-Australia solo flight

Didn't know about The Flying Show - we have watched two shows and now hooked. Is there an archive?

Had a look at the Trail on the Groppo site. The last photo has "Trial" on the side of the plane - the rest have Trail - where's Dazza when they need him? Or was that one truly a Trial to fly?

ABC report here - Teenage pilot begins record flight attempt around Australia Highlights:- Tasmanian student Oliver O'Halloran, 17, ... climbed into a Cessna 172 and took off on the first leg of his attempt to set a new record for the youngest pilot to circumnavigate Australia, unassisted. The plan is for a 20-day mission, taking off from Hobart, and stopping in Launceston, Merimbula, Coffs Harbour, the Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Cairns, Normanton, Darwin, Broome, Karratha/Port Hedland, Geraldton, Jandakot, Esperance, Ceduna, Parafield, Devonport, before landing back at Hobart's Cambridge airstrip; a round trip of around 15,000 kilometres. As is the way of doing things these days, Oliver has pulled together the money for the attempt by crowdfunding, with sponsors also helping in return for their decals taking up much of the space on the Cessna's fuselage. Oliver plans to take time away from the cockpit to speak at schools around the country. "I'm just going to speak to them about achieving their dreams," he said. "That's the main idea behind the flight, the record's just a bonus." Cessna 172 on hire from Par Avion flight training.

I didn't think it was a survey into itself, it was a survey asking the members what they thought. Most businesses survey their members / clients and potential customers. I get a lot of surveys from 20 minute ones to one question from companies - that's how they know if they are offering what people want. Some companies and public service, have internal staff surveys written into their management, some do them for crisis management - eg market share dropping, large staff turn-over. Usually in companies too big for one person to be able to see all the sections and know all the customers. RAA is getting a bit too big for the Board to know what 10,000 people are thinking. RAA doesn't have a forum like this one (thank you Ian), but if they did, they might have a better idea of the current issues facing the membership.

Agree with you Nev. It seems a case of "the pot calling the kettle black". Criticising RAA for not sending their Tech & Ops Manual updates to all 10,000 members for comment, when ELAAA P/L have not done the same, criticising or forecasting RAA fee increases, when the ELAAA site says theirs will go up by 3% or CPI annually; and many other issues. The more I hear from this one director of ELAAA the less confidence I have in that organisation. I was seriously considering them, now I am not sure I want to take the plunge and change our aircrafts' registrations. I just hope they can improve their communications and provide some real facts soon. I am glad RAA gave me the opportunity to express my opinion and add to their statistics. We'll hear in due course what the outcome was and what they intend to do in response. Those who know me, and follow my posts, will realise I keep up to date with RAA and seek to keep them "honest" with reporting etc. I have certainly seen an increase in responsiveness, transparency and communication since the dark days of the CASA audits and CASA refusing them permission to register aircraft. Things will never be perfect (as we all have different ideas of "perfect"), and the majority of members will continue to ignore the internal machinations, so long as they can "just go flying".

Just returned from Caboolture TAVAS flying display. Spent Sat there - Mr FV was most impressed that the PA chatter was at a minimum and he could listen to the engines. He likes the vintage engines, rotaries, etc. I liked looking at the very early replicas (we were on the aircraft owners' side of the fence & in the hangars). Chatted to other pilots and friends and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Went home via Gympie - how that has changed since we were last there. Middle of the day and still training and flying going in & around. Now home & happy, having enjoyed a weekend of vicarious flying. Sue

I did the RAA survey. Unfortunately it wouldn't allow Mr FV to do his on our laptop, because it will only allow one response. Will be finding an alternative so he can have his say, which is different to mine in some respects. At least RAA is consulting members. I found rating 1 to 8 What is Important ... the hardest one.

The organisation is ELAAA Pty Ltd. ELAAA = Experimental Light Aircraft Aviators Australia. They have a website www.elaaa.com.au and facebook page ELAAA I have heard people calling it EEE - LAH, like we call RAA = R-AY-OZZ The company is owned by 5 Directors (Rick-P and Keith Page post on Rec Fly). You can read their profiles on the website. They hoped to get approval to administer ultralights in a similar vein to RAA (but as a profit making company, with clients), are seeking to also administer GA and non commercial helicopters, but not some lighter ultralights. They hoped to get approval in October last year, but, I understand, have since asked for a higher weight & helicopters, and proposed start dates have been and gone. They are talking May 2017 now. ELAAA Pty Ltd, are promising to be an alternative to RAA. Unfortunately, they have not been able to outline much of what they will offer eg, will they recognise RAA qualifications & aircraft approvals?, how will they provide their face-to-face training outside North Qld? Can you use a RAA L2 for maintenance, or only someone approved by them? Pilot insurance? I see they have their fee structure published now. Have to wait for next month for answers, if approved.

Hi Leena, There are scholarships etc for women & men, members and non-members through the Australian Women Pilots' Association (AWPA) Australian Women Pilots` Association Unfortunately they have closed. Applications for 2018 will be open from September 2017, close 31 Jan and be announced at the AGM end of April. Check each scholarship, as some have different closing dates and requirements. There may be something you can apply for in the future. Unfortunately you have also missed the RAA Scholarships which closed 31 March Scholarships - RAAus RAA had an offer of "female prospective members to join RAAus during March and receive the value of their membership fee in flying lessons." during Women of Aviation Week (last month). Worth asking if it still applies in April. Various flying clubs / schools offer deals or free flights from time to time. It's best to ring around to find out what is in your local area. You may find pilots willing to take you for a fly so you can observe what flying entails, so you are better prepared when spending real money getting formal instruction. You can start on the theory now. There are a number of good theory books around - try the Shop attached to this site "Clear Prop". There are also free tutorials on this site - go to Tutorials in the menu. Other threads have suggested good sites / books available free on-line. There's an "exam prep" course being advertised on this site too - worth a go. Good Luck, let us know how you got on. Sue

As far as I know, you can. There will be complications for the company (insurance, Award etc). My employer hired myself and my plane to fly another engineer into a flood bound town to start assessing the highway to have it open ASAP. The complication was that there was a prohibition on hiring from an employee, but me flying into the town with another employee was OK. If we did it again, they would have hired another plane from someone else, but it was quicker to do it and to plead ignorance and emergent circumstances. Several lads working as jackaroos on properties fly to town to pick up employees or supplies, one bloke talked them into funding his commercial licence. The flying has to be incidental to your main job, otherwise they are employing you under the wrong award. Doing mustering on land that you don't own, requires a commercial, and specific low level training. Insurance (if the company has any) covering transport by non charter light aircraft piloted by a low time private pilot, might make it less than cost effective, unless very remote. I have not looked up the Acts & Regs on this for a while, so I may be wrong. Happy to be corrected.

Welcome FlyingMike, Hope to meet you at a fly-in one day too. Hope we can get you back more than 'sporadically' - do you have any particular interests? Regards Sue

Pmccarthy is right to say that going for a fly will lift your spirits, if you're feeling a bit down. Clinical Depression is completely different from 'feeling a bit down'. It is the worst condition, because the sufferer cannot see any way out, the fight is gone from them, the suicidal convince themselves that the world and society will be improved without them. If you break an arm, get the flu, have appendicitis; you can see your way to a future when it is fixed and you're back playing footy. Depression robs you of that. It is a deep dark hole. They don't want to burden people they love with their waste of a life, they can't understand that they are loved, valued and would be tremendously missed. They are willing to take a big risk on what is on the other side of death, usually convinced it is oblivion, an end of pain, and end to being a burden. While it seems this is a modern disease, I have been reading a number of family histories and recognising depression in Australian pioneering families. There are some harrowing stories from my local area. The local paper was open about saying it was suicide, even publishing the note left, or describing the circumstances in minute, sensational detail. Now it isn't published for fear of copy-cat tendencies. As fellow fliers, friends, parents etc, we should be looking out for each other. Tell them you appreciate them, tell them you care, tell them you couldn't bear to not have them around. Don't be afraid to give them a hug. I felt down one day, and I went for a fly along the river at Longreach, followed the tourist boat, turned to watch the sun setting (I had NVFR) and the twilight settling into the fairy lights on the ground, the stars coming out one by one, and thought how wonderful it was to be alive. God was in his Universe, problems at work, the loss of a friend, too much to do; all melted away as I took a deep breath. It's raining - the NBN Satellite can't handle rain or clouds - so this will have to wait till the morning, when it gets working again.... Ah Progress!

It dragged on so long because he didn't turn up to court and warrants were issued but as it was minor and he remained interstate, it just continued on, and on (he wasn't extradited). I guess he hoped Tassie would just give up trying. Unfortunately for him, the event was "newsworthy" and continued to be reported every time he didn't front court. Now he finally fronts court with his new lawyer & says he's not prepared ..... So now he has another date to keep ..... May 2017.

RAA have trained investigators who assist the Police. In some instances (admittedly rare) RAA issues a notice regarding structural/operational issues, worded so as to avoid compromising the on-going investigation by the Coroner. An example of this is 4 March 2016 email to members:- "Open and Transparent Communication RAAus is committed to providing members with timely and relevant feedback on a range of issues. The note below pertains to a recent fatal accident. Where we can, we will provide members with information as soon as possible to provide assurance and address any safety concerns that may be apparent. Timing of this advice may change from time to time given the available information and circumstances. Our prime goal is to keep members informed and it is important to remember that any advice issued at this early stage is preliminary in nature and is subject to change as investigations continue. Accident at Katoomba Airport 27 February 2016 RAAus is saddened to advise members of the death of Mr Rod Hay. Mr Hay died in an accident at Katoomba Airport on 27 February 2016 involving Jabiru 55-3692. The damage to nearby trees in conjunction with the extensive damage to the propeller and lack of visible external damage to the engine indicates the engine appeared to be operating at impact. To fully examine the engine, RAAus is conducting a supervised engine tear down with officials from ATSB and Jabiru. The control systems of the aircraft were all confirmed as connected to key points after impact and all damage is consistent with impact damage. At present our preliminary assessment of the evidence appears to support a possible loss of control with the cause as yet undetermined. RAAus will continue to work with authorities on the investigation and advise members again once we have more information." There have been other "advice" released, but not publicly linked to a particular accident. RAA has to tread a fine line between disseminating their own opinion quickly, which may compromise the on-going investigation, and keeping it to themselves until the Coroner's report is finalised, given it may not be made public. RAA have been trying to tread this fine line, and I give them thanks for doing as much as they have so far. Reading the "occurence reports" is an education, there is a fair bit to learn there. Log onto RAA - safety & read.

Lots of us Old Timers here. I'm not admitting to Old - but I married one! Never too late to start. At my Aero Club our oldest student was 69 and went on to enjoy flying into his 70's Have you decided what you want to fly? Plenty to learn here - a great discussion, lots of Resources (like plain English translations of the Weather), Tutorials (very helpful for the theory side of things) photos, free Classifieds, and a great bunch of fellow aviation enthusiasts. Sue